My Louisiana Sky

by Kimberly Willis Holt

Overview

Tiger Ann Parker wants nothing more than to get out of the rural town of Saitter, Louisiana—far away from her mentally disabled mother, her "slow" father who can't read an electric bill, and her classmates who taunt her. So when Aunt Dorie Kay asks Tiger to sp the summer with her in Baton Rouge, Tiger can't wait to go. But before she leaves, the sudden revelation of a dark family secret prompts Tiger to make a decision that will ultimately change her life.

Set in the South in the late 1950s, this coming-of-age novel explores a twelve-year-old girl's struggle to accept her grandmother's death, her mentally deficient parents, and the changing world around her. It is a novel filled with beautiful language and unforgettable characters, and the importance of family and home.

My Louisiana Sky is a 1998 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award Honor Book for Fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312660956
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	02/15/2011
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	306,263
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	770L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Kimberly Willis Holt is the author of the many award-winning novels for young adults and children, including The Water Seeker, Keeper of the Night, and When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, winner of a National Book Award for Young People's Literature. She is also the author of the bestselling Piper Reed series of chapter books, and picture books including Waiting for Gregory and Skinny Brown Dog. Holt was born in Pensacola, Florida, and lived all over the U.S. and the world—from Paris to Norfolk to Guam to New Orleans. She long dreamed of being a writer, but first worked as a radio news director, marketed a water park, and was an interior decorator, among other jobs. She lives in West Texas with her family.

Editorial Reviews

This lyrical first novel brings fresh perspective to the guilt and anger and caring that surround the mentally disabled. All the characters . . . are drawn with warmth but no patronizing reverence.” —Booklist, Starred Review

“So honest is Holt's portrayal of Tiger, Momma, Daddy, Granny, and the rest that one wonders if she wrote their story while sitting in a rocker on a Saitter front porch, under the vast promises of a Louisiana Sky.” —The Horn Book, Starred Review

“An unusually auspicious debut.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

From the Publisher

Making an unusually auspicious debut, Holt offers a unique coming-of-age tale. The year is 1957 and the place is Saitter, La., a small town where prejudices reach far beyond skin color. Twelve-year-old Tiger Parker, exceptionally bright and also good at baseball, is shunned by the girls in her class because her mother, Corrina, and her father, Lonnie, are "different" ("Folks around here call it retarded, but I like `slow' better"). Through Tiger's perceptive first-person narration, readers watch her grow painfully aware of her mother's limitations and become embarrassed by Corrina's childish behavior. She calms herself with the knowledge that her grandmother, who heads the household, has "enough brains for all of us." But Granny dies suddenly, and Tiger is left with an excruciating choice: Should she live with her sophisticated aunt in Baton Rouge, where she could find freedom but would break her parents' hearts, or should she forgo the opportunity and take on more responsibilities at home? While readers may not agree with Tiger's decision, they will admire her courage, loyalty and love for her parents. Holt conveys the innocence of Tiger's fun-loving mother and hardworking father without overdramatizing their intellectual deficiencies. The author presents and handles a sticky dilemma with remarkable grace. Ages 9-12. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 4-9-Set in the South in the late 1950s, this coming-of-age story explores a 12-year-old girl's struggle to accept her grandmother's death, her mentally deficient parents, and the changing world around her. By Kimberly Willis Holt. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

In her first YA novel, Holt gives a fresh theme sensitive and deliberate treatment: The bright child of "slow" parents comes to terms with her family's place in the community. Tiger Ann Parker is smart; she's gotten straight A's and won the spelling bee five years in a row. People in her rural 1950s Louisiana community can't figure out where she got her brains, because everyone knows that her parents, are mentally challenged. Her mother has the capabilities of a six-year-old, while her father, a good steady worker at the nursery down the road, can't manage writing or simple math. Tiger loves her parents, but as she enters middle school she becomes increasingly aware that she's socially ostracized by her classmates; her affection for her family becomes mixed with shame and anger at their differences. When Tiger's loving grandmother, who has always run the household, has a fatal heart attack, Tiger is invited to live with her glamorous Aunt Doreen in Baton Rouge. Tempted to move away and reinvent herself, Tiger ultimately comes to appreciate her parents' strengths and her own as well. Tiger, with her warring feelings, is a believable and likable narrator, and while the offerings of big-city living are too patly rejected, a well-developed setting and fully-realized characters make this an unusually strong coming-of-age story. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews